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Old roommate calls Directv and wants service installed, gets great deal through work, Directv sets time+date, so far so good.
Contractor comes out and immediately says he cant do it. Roommate asks why, blah blah blah "It's just impossible, it can't be done", no explanation why, no LOS checks, nothing. Old roommate explains I(being me) had dish network subbed (61.5/110/119 sats) when I lived there. Contractor doesn't care, contractor leaves after several more excuses.
Hmm... why does he leave? I have a feeling it was because it was 18 degrees outside and he didn't feel like getting up on the roof and working.

Now, my question is, when calling for an installation can you request X company not come out again and another one be sent?
(I wouldn't want that guy out there again anyways, if hes too lazy even check LOS I can only imagine the magic he works with the rest of the install)
Assuming there is more than 1 installation company, are there any alternatives or is it always going to be the same and you just hope its not a 1 man show?

Request a different installer. The first guy obviously didn't want the job anyway. Don't worry too much about anything else.

The bottom line is that many installers are constantly over-booked, so they know that they won't be able to do a couple of the jobs they've been assigned. Since they get paid by the job, it makes sense for them to cherry-pick and only do the easy jobs. So, big or difficult jobs, or jobs far away, will get passed over.

Is it right? Not for the customer, but given the conditions the installers work under, it is understandable. The answer would be to hire more installers, or do a better job of keeping the ones they get, but that would mean paying them better and treating them better, and the HSPs have no intention on cutting into their hefty profit margins just to do that. There's always more desparate suckers waiting for a job...

Request a different installer. The first guy obviously didn't want the job anyway. Don't worry too much about anything else.

The bottom line is that many installers are constantly over-booked, so they know that they won't be able to do a couple of the jobs they've been assigned. Since they get paid by the job, it makes sense for them to cherry-pick and only do the easy jobs. So, big or difficult jobs, or jobs far away, will get passed over.

Is it right? Not for the customer, but given the conditions the installers work under, it is understandable. The answer would be to hire more installers, or do a better job of keeping the ones they get, but that would mean paying them better and treating them better, and the HSPs have no intention on cutting into their hefty profit margins just to do that. There's always more desparate suckers waiting for a job...

What ever he ^^^ said,you can also call DTV and have them send a different tech,or a supervisor to check LOS.

Great answers so far thanks guy. I think the answer here would be to request the same installer not be sent again. It was obvious he was not interested in doing the job, even though it is an incredibly simple and straight forward install.

Joe: Yes I agree, but I included the location in my post title mid-michigan (midland/bay city/saginaw)

Great answers so far thanks guy. I think the answer here would be to request the same installer not be sent again. It was obvious he was not interested in doing the job, even though it is an incredibly simple and straight forward install.

Joe: Yes I agree, but I included the location in my post title mid-michigan (midland/bay city/saginaw)

Anyone have any recommendations for this area?

Ptown,I've been to MI.........nice flat place. The roads run north to south and east to west in grids. I managed to miss the snow.

So, anyhow, what you have to do to dump the low skill dudes is call DTV and cancel the order. Then find a local retailer (like the one posted above by jefbal99) and place the order through him.

The deals are about the same. If you can't get a competent guy on the next do-over that is how it is done. I'll look around..........many folks that could help you no longer do DTV installations.